Cryptic Google tweet reveals date and location for Android Dev Summit 2019

Android developers were thrilled last year that Google brought back the Android Dev Summit after taking a few years off. Today, in a somewhat encoded tweet, Google has revealed both the date and location for Android Dev Summit 2019, which is now presumably an annual event.

Last year’s Android Dev Summit saw the announcement of huge new features, like co-announcing Android ‘Foldables’ with Samsung, and improved app multitasking using ‘Multi-resume.’ The event allows Android more time in the spotlight than can be found at Google I/O, as the company continues to reach new kinds of developers.

This morning, the official Android Developers Twitter account tweeted out a gif captioned with “Save the date!” At first glance, no date was visible anywhere in the tweet or gif, but an eagle-eyed few noticed the gif would occasionally flash with other information. Almost immediately, readers sprung into action to decipher the meaning hidden in this gif.

🚨 Big Announcement 🚨

Something awesome this way comes. Save the date! Wait … pic.twitter.com/bjd1afXedC

— Android Developers (@AndroidDev) April 4, 2019

Pausing at the right times, both “#AndroidDevSummit” and “Sunnyvale, CA” can be seen, along with a series of hexadecimal numbers. These numbers were deciphered, thanks to a cheeky hint from the Android Developers account, to read “October 23-24”.

So we now know that the Android Dev Summit 2019 will be held in Sunnyvale, CA on October 23rd and 24th. No specific venue has been announced yet for the event. For reference, last year’s summit was held on November 7th and 8th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

This is a good sign that the Android Dev Summit will become an annual event, where Google will share some of each year’s biggest Android announcements. At this year’s event, we’ll likely get a taste of what to expect from Android R, just as we heard about the foldables emulator that launched with Android Q Beta 2.

However, it may also be telling that Google is sharing major Android news outside of its largest developer venue, Google I/O. Only time will tell.